Ben Affleck & Matt Damon on 'Unique' Friendship & New Perspective in Their 50s (Exclusive)

“Extra” sat down with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to dish on their new Netflix crime thriller “The Rip.” 

They reflected on how lucky they are to be able to work together as longtime best friends.

Matt said, “I think our friendship is unique in its own way just because we both do the same thing and kind of had a lifelong dream and kind of achieved it together... I think now we’re at an age in our 50s where we just looked around and went, you know, we should be doing this together more often.”

Damon added, “You don’t want to waste this incredible opportunity like of both of us winning the lottery.”

Matt also talked about wife Luciana serving as a producer, gushing, "She’s really great at it. And now it’s at the point where, you know, Ben just directed this other movie while I was doing, ‘The Odyssey,’ and Lucy produced that. And now he’s saying he will never do a movie without her producing it.”

Matt joked, “He’s her second husband at this point, her work husband.”

Ben teased, “I’m her professional first choice, I hope.”

Affleck described her as a “very deft” producer with a “really strong EQ,” and “the poise to never get too worked up.”

He said, "I think that’s a big thing is that people act like everything’s a six-alarm fire and just everything can’t be that. It just adds stress and but so that’s a professional gift, and then I mean the fact that, you know, to be around somebody you like and who you’re friends with and who gets jokes and who you can be yourself around and isn’t going to judge you... it’s really nice.”

They also clarified headlines that they were “embarrassed” by their “Good Will Hunting” Oscar speech back in 1998.

Ben said, “We were young and we were excited,” while Matt added, “We didn’t practice. We didn’t prepare a speech… It wasn’t a well-crafted..."

Affleck noted, "I think that's the appeal of those shows because, a lot of the times, people haven't even seen the movies, but you get to see a really honest, emotional reaction from somebody who's being gratified for something really meaningful. That's a fundamental thing we all want. It's like any performance or show, you know, even though it's real, it gives you that kind of feeling to watch it."

He added, "I think in that sense, I get why, you know, people call back to that, because we were definitely the example of a very raw emotional, unadorned reaction.”